Vance "Ohio" Vo
Description Vance "Ohio" Vo Background Early life As a kid he grew up in Ohio. His family had immigrated to America before World War Two from Europe. To avoid the wrath of Hitler and fascists. His mother was pregnant during the immigration to America. They wanted to give their growing family a better start. "Ohio" grew up with a older sister and a younger brother. He wasn't to close with his sister but he would always look out for her. He was pretty close with his brother as he would try to see him everyday at lunch at school. When he grew he originally wanted to become a firefighter but his Draft Board said otherwise. Military career In 1956 he was drafted into the United States Army mostly against his will at the age of twenty. After his first term in the military, he decided to stay and was promoted multiple times before the outbreak of the Vietnam War. He served as a Door Gunner for all of his time in the military as he seemed to fit very good with the role. He was nicknamed "Ohio" when a CO he worked under asked him where he came from. He responded with Ohio which shocked the CO as he was from their too. The CO from there on out called him Ohio which caught on with others. (He gained his nickname before the outbreak of the war.) When the war started he served all over with the 11th Pathfinders and First Cavalry Division. He and his crew were very tightly nit until an incident in the An Lao valley where the helicopter crashed and all of Ohio's primary crew were killed. Luckily for Ohio he flew out of the Huey before it hit the ground and exploded killing everyone inside. He continued to serve with the Pathfinders until 1976 when he was finally discharged from the United States Military. Late life Being 40 when he was discharged, he was scarred by his time in Vietnam. He had many war stories of rescuing comrades and the lost of his crew. He lived with friends from High School until he died in his sleep in 2005. War stories and operations Day the primary crew crashed On the day his helicopter crashed, 1st Sergeant "Draft" was leading a patrol. Meanwhile, "Ohio" and his crew were preparing to take off, his CO's (Lieutenant Smith) last words to him were "Buckle up, Sergeant." Their mission was evacuate a squad of Pathfinders. It is unknown how they crashed but when "Ohio" woke up in a rice paddy under some debris from the helicopter he found a group of Pathfinders which was convenient because he himself was one. When he woke up he pushed the debris off of him and turned to see a man remark "The hell?" as the team of Pathfinders didn't even realize he was there. At this point 1st Sergeant "Draft" had been killed and a specialist was now in command. "Ohio" had to tag along with the group of them when they assaulted a village. During their assault he set up his bipod in a window. He managed to kill multiple Vietnamese while providing covering fire for the rest of the team. After the assault the team regrouped on the other side of the village, "Ohio" said this to the Specialist in command "That was good shooting you got to admit." The specialist responded with "Good shooting, for an aviator." Soon after the attack they moved to a hill and called in evacuation. It was a mission accomplished.